A gas piston power plant is used as a primary or backup energy source. The device requires access to any type of combustible gas . Many GPES models can additionally generate heat for heating and cold for ventilation systems, warehouses, industrial facilities.
Gas piston power plants: principle of operation
The main elements of the GPES are a motor generator and a gas reciprocating engine. The combustible gas in the GPA chamber is ignited by a spark plug and produces the energy used to rotate the working shaft of the generator.
Automated power plants and electric units with reciprocating gas engines, in addition to electric, can generate thermal energy in a recovery boiler or a water-to-water heater. Less common are models that generate cold.
Device
Gas piston power plant consists of:
- gas engine and alternator connected by an elastic finger coupling;
- radiator;
- a fan driven by the latter from the front end of the crankshaft via a V-belt drive ;
- air purification filters and other auxiliary devices mounted on a common installation frame.
The generator has a separate complete device with control and distribution panels.
Motor
The operation of a gas piston power plant is impossible without a gas engine. It works on natural, associated petroleum and industrial gases. The engine has cast aluminum block heads that are mounted and attached to two cylinder blocks. The combustion chamber (often an open type) is located in the cylinder between the flat bottom of the head of the block and the bottom of the piston with an annular recess.
Based on the conditions for ensuring detonation-free combustion of the gas-air mixture and limiting the maximum combustion pressures, a small compression ratio of 10.5 (for natural gas) is used in a gas engine instead of 1415 in a diesel engine. This is achieved by installing ring aluminum gaskets (thicker than diesel) under the cylinder heads (separate for each cylinder).
Ignition system
The engine uses a battery ignition system, consisting of:
- electric candles;
- ignition coil distributor;
- power source;
- electrical wires.
To ignite the working mixture in the cylinders, electric candles are used (one candle for each cylinder). They are installed in the head of the block in threaded sockets and outlet pipes, which are provided in those places where the nozzles are located in the diesel engine. The central location of the electric candle relative to the combustion chamber provides optimal conditions for the combustion of the mixture due to the minimum path of propagation of the flame front in the cylinder and normal cooling of the candle with water circulating in the block head.
Operation of gas piston power plants
Various types of gases are used as fuel in gas engines:
- natural (both main and liquefied);
- associated (oil);
- propane-butane;
- biogas;
- industrial gas (sewage, mine, coke, pyrolysis);
- other combustible gases.
The reliability of power plants with gas piston engines is confirmed by their long-term operation in Western Siberia, Yakutia, the Far East and other regions of the Russian Federation. First of all, they are exploited at enterprises, oil and gas, coal deposits. The abundance of associated gas makes their operation very profitable.
Service
Before buying a gas power station, the composition of the gas used as fuel and its parameters are agreed with the manufacturer. Adjustment and commissioning of units by agreement with the consumer is also carried out by the manufacturer.
Depending on the complexity of the equipment, maintenance of a gas-piston power plant is carried out either by the supplier or by trained and tested personnel. MOT or repair of gas equipment, as well as other engine components and assemblies, should be carried out only after gas production from the gas main and power system.
Air must not contain aggressive and explosive gases. In the engine room where the gas engine is installed, the working air must not have dust content of more than 0.002 g / m 3 . In case of higher dust content, an additional cleaning system should be installed at the motor inlet.
Benefits
A gas piston power plant can operate autonomously for a long time and in parallel with other identical power plants with a power ratio of 3: 1 to 1: 3 or an industrial network.
The gas piston engine, generator, and radiator of the cooling system are mounted on a common frame. The engine and generator are interconnected by flanges, eliminating the need for centering the shafts. The unit can be delivered in a stationary version on a frame and a mobile version in an insulated body.
During operation of power plants, automatic monitoring is carried out for:
- stability of output electrical parameters;
- overheating of the coolant;
- oil overheating;
- a drop in oil pressure in the engine lubrication system;
- lower insulation resistance;
- the appearance of dangerous potential on the hull.
GPES can be provided with automatic or remote control of starting, running and stopping the engine.
Specifications
The main technical data on the example of the Russian model AD200S-T400-R:
- Rated power: 200 kW.
- Voltage: 400 V.
- Current frequency: 50 Hz.
- Type of current: three-phase, alternating.
- Rated rotation speed: 1500 rpm.
- Engine start: starter.
- Gas consumption: no more than 50 kg / h.
- Overall dimensions of the unit: 295013201610 mm.
- Unit weight dry: 2960 kg.
- Engine service life before overhaul: 15000 h.
An unloaded gas piston power plant ensures the start-up of a short-circuited asynchronous electric motor with a power of up to 125 kW with a multiplicity of inrush current of up to 7. The HPPP is equipped with heating means that provide start-up at temperatures below + 5Cแต and devices for heating the air inside the building (body).